Travel

When I worked in the travel industry one of the hardest things was to schedule an itinerary that pleased the clients. You must always remember that clients can often arrive exhausted after their air travel and the last thing they want is to tramp around a crowded tourist site. You therefore need to [...]

Like others in the Rust party I am intrigued by Japan. It’s not just the language that makes it inscrutable but some of the customs too. One is “No tipping”. In the taxi from the shrines of Kyoto to our hotel I covered the fare and there was very small change of about one pound. I naturally [...]

Yesterday was a full on day of visiting the Hama-rikyu Gardens and a Sumo demonstration in the morning and taking the bullet train to Kyoto in the afternoon. The gardens exemplify a paradox of Japanese culture: they are an oasis of tranquillity amongst the sky scrapers of Tokyo reflecting how old [...]

One aspect of Japan on which the Rust party is unanimous is the delight of the heated loo seat. We first encountered this today on the bullet train from Kobe to Tokyo. The bullet train is super fast but inside not that much different from any train ‘though of course superior to Southern [...]